Thanksgiving Weekend

This year Daniel's cousin, Kristen, picked up the Thanksgiving dinner party since last year was her mother, Aunt Sharon's, final dinner. We left in the morning and headed to Pappy's house in New Jersey so we could take a break and feed Trafton some lunch. Then we got back in the car and drove up to New York with Pappy. Trafton was a wonderful traveling baby the whole way. He didn't sleep like we thought he would, but he didn't fuss at all either.

Then we spent the day relaxing at Pappy's house on Friday and at night Daniel and I went out to see our favorite band, Railroad Earth, play the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg. It might have been the best RRE show ever. They were really incredible and they played "Real Love." We have probably seen them close to or over 50 times, but only ever seen them play that song one time before. It was wonderful!

At Kristen's house playing with a light saber

Have a dinner roll as an appetizer

Pappy carves the turkey

Cousins Justin and Michael show Trafton some of their wrestling moves

Daniel with the kids! Kristen and Tom's kids Justin, Michael and Jenna gather on the couch with Daniel and Trafton

Kristen and Trafton at the table - he is totally entertained with the napkin rings!

The feast was delicious!

The whole family

Trafton had a great time wandering around the outside of Pappy's house. The weather was beautiful and there were so many places to explore.

Of course we had to take some time to see Aunt Courtney's horse, Fire.

Trafton wasn't too interested in Harley (I think he's gotten too big for Trafton).

He's trying to tell Harley to stay away from the stick he found.

Checking out Pappy's kindling supply

Railroad Earth

They encored with a Rolling Stones cover song.

After the show at the Sherman, Cabinet was playing an after party at the Sarah Street Grill just a few doors down.

A couple of songs into their performance, Railroad Earth's fiddle player, Tim Carbone sat in for a few tunes.

What a great night!

Katie's Baby Shower

Last Saturday was Katie's baby shower at her mom's house in Pottsville. She is expecting a baby boy (Baby Liam) at the end of January. The theme of the shower was books, so we all picked out our favorite children's books to give. I used my GPS navigation on my phone for the first time and made it there with no problem - I was pretty excited about that!

Jessica, Katie and me

Daniel's Birthday

Daniel turned 33 on November 14th! We celebrated by going out to the Turkey Hill Brewing Company after work (it was a Monday). Then we came home and opened presents!

Trafton was excited to help Daddy open presents, but he was most excited by the balloon!

Trafton got Daddy a gift card to Lowe's so he can buy a new tool.

Cabinet 11/11/11

On Friday night, Daniel, being the super-wonderful husband that he is, stayed home with Trafton so I could travel to Harrisburg to get together with friends and watch Cabinet play at the Appalachian Brewing Company. It was so much fun! It was great to get together with everyone and not have to worry about taking care of Trafton. We all met at Duke's just across the river and then went over to the ABC from there. The crew included Joe and Jessica, Tara and Kenny, Tom and Katie, Jay and Kara, Jake, Rich and Emily, and Jim and Jessica.

Citizens Band Radio opened for Cabinet

After Cabinet's first set, just these four came out and played three or four traditional numbers without bass and drums. It was pretty special. Cabinet used this night to film a DVD that will release in March of next year. It was a sold out show!

Jessica and me

Katie and Tom with Kenny in the background

Jessica, Rich and Emily

Jessica and Jim

Tom, Tara, and Jay

Cabinet (without Dylan in the picture)

Cabinet (without Todd in the picture)

17 Months Old

On Friday, Trafton turned 17 months old. He is getting more and more vocal and mobile every day. He walks well now and even runs a bit and dances, too. He makes all sorts of sounds that mean things like'ba' for balloon (every time we go grocery shopping and see the balloons). He is growing like crazy, too. We bought him a fall wardrobe on Labor Day weekend and he has pretty much outgrown everything. He is wearing 24 month clothing and 2Ts now.

These pictures are all before the freak snow storm came through in October and killed all the plants in a matter of hours.

I have these baby food containers that I used when I made Trafton baby food when he was younger. They are still in one of our kitchen cabinets and he loves to go in the cabinet and get them out and take them all over the house.

Doing a little dancing

Daniel has told Trafton that 'Uncle Johnny' lives in our basement. Uncle Johnny was Grandma Beyer's brother (a man I never met) and the Beyer lore says that he used to live in Grandma's basement. When Grandma Beyer passed away, one of the items that we took from her house was this old red leather chair (that I love!). Anyway, Daniel says that means that Uncle Johnny's spirit is in our house and he tells Trafton to call down to him in our basement. Trafton is not allowed in the basement, so he hangs over the gate that looks down the stairs and calls to him. The whole thing is pretty ridiculous, but Trafton, not to mention Daniel, gets a kick out of it.

Watching football

My sweet sleeper

Trafton still absolutely insists on sleeping completely covered up (head included). You can see his foot sticking out at the bottom of the picture.

Happy Halloween

Trafton was a train conductor this year for Halloween! Although we didn't get much trick-or-treating in, he had a great time wearing his costume on a few different occasions. We dressed him up two weekends ago to take pictures since the weather was nice. We walked to the Rail Trail near our house and he had a great time. Then he had a costume party at his daycare and his teacher said he enjoyed walking in the parade and showing off his costume (particularly his hat!). And on Halloween night we dressed him up and took him up to visit our friends Karen and Lou. Then we came home and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters that were on our street.

In our backyard

One side of the Rail Trail is a steep cliff - Trafton liked walking around in the fallen leaves.

The other side of the trail is bordered by a fence that protects you from falling down a short cliff into Fishing Creek.

This is my favorite picture from the day - with proud daddy watching from behind!

Getting tired

Ready to go out for the night

Handing out candy on our front porch

Having fun with Karen

Trafton was at first scared of the lit up ghostpumpkin on Karen and Lou's porch, but after he warmed up to it, he started laughing at it.

The Latest Firsts

There have been many "firsts" going on in our house lately. Here are some of the highlights :)

The first time Trafton ate pasta and sauce without any help from us

The first time Trafton used a spoon - sort of correctly, I mean, he has the general idea . . .

The first time Trafton slept with a "big boy blanket" instead of the little baby blankets

The first time I made treats for Trafton's class (apparently they were a hit!)

Trafton's first artwork (which is, of course, decorating our fridge)

And, last but not least . . . lots of first steps!